Lenders should ‘think like a dealer’ to develop new business

NASHVILLE — Lenders can better optimize their business and returns by considering the dealer’s perspective.   

“It’s really easy in this business, when you’re dealing with a dealer, to become a commodity,” Patrick Hoiby, chief financial officer at Fort Worth, Texas-based Equify Financial, said during a panel discussion May 6 at Equipment Finance Connect 2024. 

“So how do you become not another horse in the stable? What we do is we try to develop the relationship side of the business,” Hoiby said. “You have to bring tools to the dealer as well that they see value in.”  

“You’ve got to learn to think like a dealer,” he added. 

Thinking like a dealer could include offering financing options attractive to dealers, and  considering bringing auxiliary products to dealers that don’t compete with their existing offerings and could help generate extra funds.   

Being considered “easy” to do business with is a priority, Sean Walsh, vice president of finance at Baltimore-based Peterbilt truck retailer The Pete Store, said during the panel discussion. This applies across the parts, services, sales and financing divisions of his company, he added. 

“We’ve looked at just every avenue of how we connect with the customer, how we connect with lenders, how we’re communicating internally, and trying to be easier to do business with,” Walsh said. “The easier we are [to work with] as a dealer group, the better financial performance will be across the board.”  

Hoiby and Walsh agreed that the biggest hurdle for business development in equipment financing is the dealer-lender relationship.  

“You’d better be dealing with someone you can somewhat trust,” Hoiby said. “You need to have lenders that are ethical, that are willing to work with people when they get in trouble.”